Toy Hall of Fame inductees: Make a plane, have a ball and solve a murder

This undated photo provided by The Strong shows the three toys inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame Class of 2017, from top left, the Wiffle Ball, the paper airplane and the board game Clue. The trio was honored at the upstate New York hall on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017.

SOURCE: Victoria Gray/The Strong via AP

Toy Hall of Fame inductees: Make a plane, have a ball and solve a murder

Next time you fold up a piece of paper into a plane, take a swing at a Wiffle Ball or shout "Professor Plum with the candlestick in the conservatory," you'll be playing with a hall of famer.

The National Toy Hall of Fame, part of The Strong Museum in Rochester, N.Y., announced its 2017 inductees: the paper airplane, the Wiffle Ball and the board game Clue. They were selected on four criteria: icon-status, longevity, discovery and innovation.

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Here's a little on each inductee:

Paper airplane: It's origin is purportedly in 1909, just six years after the Wright Brothers took a much bigger plane on a historic flight of its own. Paper's high strength and density gives it similar properties to the materials used in real planes.

"Where some toys require financial investment, paper airplanes start with a simple sheet of paper, coupled with creativity and dexterity, to produce a toy with infinite aeronautical possibilities,” Christopher Bensch, The Strong’s vice president for collections, said in a statement.

Wiffle Ball: In the 1950s, a retired semi-pro baseball player in Connecticut noticed his son couldn't play a game of baseball in their cramped backyard. He got his hands on plastic spheres, cutting eight holes in each that allowed them to grab air. It slowed the game down, shrinking the playing field, and eventually its own set of rules were developed. Pretty soon, people started called pretty much any ball with holes in it a Wiffle Ball.

“The Wiffle Ball changed the outdoor play landscape, taking the basics of backyard baseball and transforming it into something easier for neighborhood kids to negotiate," curator Michelle Parnett-Dwyer said.

Clue: Designed by a British couple during World War II, this board game was based on murder-mystery dinner parties that were the rage at the time. It was patented in 1944, but material shortages kept it out of production until 1949 when it was released as "Cluedo." Parker Brothers purchased the rights and released it in the U.S. under its familiar name. Like many board games, different variations exist, but the general objective has players trying to solve a murder by discovering the killer among a colorful cast of characters, the murder weapon and the room it was committed in.

“Millions of Clue games are sold each year—including a junior version, as well as travel, advanced, collectors, and themed editions," Curator Nicolas Rickett. "Clue has also had its own movie, been featured in numerous television and books, and remains an icon of pop culture."